Turning Carbon Into Cash: Innovative Ways to Utilize Captured CO₂

Reducing the world’s carbon emissions is one of the most important steps in fighting climate change. Still, large, sweeping changes take time, so finding ways to mitigate the impact of current emissions-producing processes in the meantime can be helpful. Carbon capture is one such popular strategy.

As the name implies, carbon capture removes CO2 from emissions streams. Conventionally, the captured gas then goes to storage deep underground or helps oil companies extract more from their wells. However, these applications carry environmental concerns of their own. Thankfully, several alternate uses for captured CO2 have emerged that could be better long-term solutions.

Building Materials

One of the most promising uses for carbon capture is to store it in building materials. The world already produces a substantial amount of concrete, bricks and similar resources, providing ample storage space. Using it to hold — and thereby reduce — emissions from other sources could also lower the construction industry’s massive carbon footprint.

A recent study found that this method could remove more than 16 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. While savings that high are unlikely, even a fraction of that total would be a substantial improvement.

This method works by holding CO2 in biomass or artificial rocks and using those resources to make bricks, concrete aggregates or bioplastics. Unlike conventional carbon capture strategies, it doesn’t require much specialized equipment or new workflows, so it has little impact on overall energy consumption. As a result, the benefits are more impactful.

Refrigeration

Another way to use captured carbon is to use it as a refrigerant. Refrigeration systems have used CO2 for years, as the gas has high thermal conductivity and is relatively easy to compress and manage. Sourcing this CO2 from existing industrial sources would provide the same benefits while making it greener.

Refrigeration units are contained systems, so they do not release gases into the atmosphere. Leaks are possible, but even in these scenarios, CO2 is preferable to older refrigerants, which are often hydrofluorocarbons. These compounds have global warming potentials in the thousands, making them several times more destructive than CO2.

Sourcing refrigerants from waste streams also reduces the need to produce CO2 through other means. As a result, overall process-related emissions may fall as this use case grows.

Efficient Heating Solutions

Captured greenhouse gases can heat as well as cool. Organizations can sequester CO2 by growing plant matter, which naturally absorbs the gas through photosynthesis. Then, they can turn this biomass into heating pellets to replace alternatives like propane.

While biomass pellets do release some greenhouse gases when they burn, they still have advantages over other emissions-producing heat sources. Firstly, they’re a renewable resource, so they reduce material extraction-related strain on the environment. Secondly, they cost just $19.05 per million British thermal units of energy, which is more than twice as cost-effective as propane.

Biomass pellets also burn hot for their size, so consumers can use less of them to achieve desired temperatures. Consequently, they can be a more efficient way to heat an area compared to fossil fuels.

Fertilizer

Other businesses have diverted their captured carbon toward fertilizer production. Making fertilizer with conventional means is an emissions-heavy process, emitting 12.5 million tons of CO2 annually. However, a different approach that directly uses CO2 instead of releasing it as a by-product is a promising alternative.

The process works by combining captured CO2 with nitrate and water to create urea, a key component in fertilizers. Doing this instead of making urea from energy-intensive ammonia-based methods would consume more CO2 than it emits. It would also reduce nitrate pollution, which is a key concern in wastewater management.

This application is so beneficial because it addresses multiple problems simultaneously. The world needs fertilizer to ensure food security, but it must also reduce CO2 emissions from industrial and fertilizer-producing processes. Creating urea from captured carbon helps in both areas.

Food and Beverage Products

Many food and beverage products also require CO2. As a result, carbon capture is an ideal way to provide this resource while mitigating harmful emissions elsewhere.

Beer, soda and other carbonated beverages need CO2 to create their trademark bubbles. The gas is also common in snack production, where injecting it into dough can create puffy, crispy textures in chips and corn-based foods. Traditionally, this CO2 comes from fossil fuel combustion, so sourcing it from other, existing processes can reduce overall emissions.

Beverages are already the world’s largest consumer of CO2, so the sector provides plenty of demand for carbon capture. While sequestered carbon must undergo purification for use in these products, the environmental benefits are worth the added complexity, given the market size.

Remaining Challenges in Carbon Capture and Usage

As these five use cases show, carbon capture and usage can benefit many industries and applications. However, it still faces some obstacles and downsides that stop it from being a perfect environmental solution.

The biggest problem with carbon capture is that it does not eliminate emissions. While it can mitigate the effects of CO2 emissions, some gases still enter the atmosphere, and it may dissuade some companies from switching to carbon-free energy sources. As a result, it can lead to greenwashing and hinder needed progress in sustainable energy, even if it is better than fossil fuel usage without carbon capture.

Uneven supply and demand may also pose an issue. The market for CO2 is generally smaller than generation levels, so even if factories capture all their carbon emissions, they may struggle to find buyers to sell it to. Finding new use cases, like using CO2 in construction materials, can help, but growth in these areas may still be slow, impacting the financial performance of carbon capture equipment.

High upfront costs are another barrier. Additional research and growth will make these expenses fall, but it can hinder carbon capture and usage in the short term.

Captured CO2 Can Serve Many Uses

No single use for captured carbon will be enough to make a meaningful difference. It will take a combination of all of these uses for the market to be rich enough to support large-scale improvements.

While challenges remain, the potential for carbon capture and storage across industries is hard to ignore. Such applications must happen alongside investments in carbon-free energy to achieve desired results, but the ability to mitigate current emissions in the meantime is promising.